Apparatus for extinguishing fire and for destroying vermin.



G. BARKER.

APYLIOATIOH FILED JUNE 16, 1907.

Patented Mar. '16, 1909.

-ie 74 %2A%m but Fire and for Destro A fication I call the purpose ofextinguishing fire; and I 'do "sulfuric acid.-

OFFICE.

HARKER, OF PETERSHAM, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE AND FDR DESTROYIN G VERMIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 16, 1909.

.. Application filed. June 15, 1907; Serial No. 379,186.

Tocll whom it mayconcem:

Be. it known that I, GEoRGE HARKJ'JR, a subject of the King of GreatBritain and Ireland, and residing at Petersham, -near Sydney, in theState of New South Wales, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented newand useful Apparatus for Extinguishing Vermin, of which the followmg isa specification.

My invention aims toflood ships holds, store' rooms, and other inclosedspaces enerally with certain gases, so as to disp ace airtherefrom andin place thereof fill such spaces with an atmosphere containing lessoxygen than isrequired to sustain ordinary combustion and respiration.In this specigases forming such an atmosphere inert gases.

I am aware that sulfurous acid gas. and carbon dioxid have been usedheretofore for not claim broadly the discovery of a process ofpreventing combustion or respiration by the employment of a wholly orpartially inert atmosphere of gas or gases.

My object is rather to obtaina ra id. su

ply at nommal cost of inert gases w 'ch Wlll ave no harmful effects uponthe structure in which same are used or on-the contents thereof. Sulfurfumes are more or less effective for the purposes I have in view, butthey are injurious to certain goods,more partlcularly in the presence ofwater or aqueous vapor, and are-especially destructive to the metal workin the bilges of ships owing. to the presence of .water therein by whichthey are absorbed .and ultimately converted un-' der atmosphericinfluence more or less into,

I utilize the waste gaseous products of combustion from an ordinafurnace in which fuel. isburned, prefer hi d1tions. which will give agaseous product conta' a minimum proportion of free oxygen, but firstcoolandclean'said gases by;

. passlngthem through. a scrubber or through a water jet condenser,thereafter forcing.

them by means of a ump or .blower into the holds or other chamhiers uponwhich it is required to operate. Such gases contain too httle freeoxygen to support ordinary combustion or respiration; particularly ifthe furnace is operated without an overplus airsupply. In orderto-efiectcombustion with a view to obtain a suitablegaseous product, Imay operate the furnace under normal or y under con' .pheric air feed,

factory ma be an ordinary are conveyed to the hold,

' and the forcing pum producing) 'extra draft-preferably the latterbecause then the proportion of free oxygen may be kept lowest. The otherportions of the gaseous product are incapable of supporting ordinarycombustion or respiration. I also fit to's'aid pump or blower a doubleintake, one

for the. inert gas feed and one for atmos- -fitting both" with stopvalves, whereof the gas intake valve is o ened to supply inert as forthe purpose of lling the chamber, an the airintake valveis opened whenthe chamber is to be cleared of gas by displacing the same withvair, andthus restoring it to normal habitable condition.

In practice I fit a gas'take off pipe from the funnel or Smokestack ofthe furnace, which in the case of a steamer or a boiler furnace; thistake 0 pipe should be fitted below the funnel damper, and itself must beprovided with a damper to cut ofl communication between the funnel andthe blower, cooler and other parts unless when the ap aratus is ,in use.Ihrough this intake the fiirnace gases storeroom, or other chamber to beoperated generating on, passing on their way thereto through the coolerand cleaner or. blower,an d being distributed through t e necessarynumber of ducts, one or more as circumstances may require, each fittedwith a damper or valve of butterfly or other convenient pattern. A ship,building or other inclosed place in which the invention is to be usedmay be fitted with a permanent pipe system for purposes of effectivedistributi .1 of the gases.

The annexed sheet of drawings represents in diagrammatic form theapparatus requisite for working my said 'inventionin practice.

It is of course not necessary that the gas furnace should be associatedwith a steam oiler. A special furnace may be provided for the urposethis would be necessary particular-y 1n the case of a sailing ship as adonkey boiler furnace might not be large enough to produce'a suflicientvolume of inert gases to effectively fill the holds rapidlyin the eventof anoutbreak of fire. or the purpose of obtaining gaseous productscontaining a minimum found preferable to 0 erate the furnace 'underforced or induced draft. The presence pfcarbonic oxid gas is immaterialwhere the even be advantageous used to destroy vermin.

It is not practicable 10s of free oxygen it g s their temperature andfoulness; in order to make said gases available for practical'use I cooland wash them before assing them into the ships hold and other p acesinwhichthe process is to be 0 essary to provi exit of the air or gaseswhich it is necessary to displace in operatin 'the process. In the caseof ship cargoes 0 coal, wool, or other goods liable curity againstoutbreak of fire is obtained by periodically flooding the holds withinert gases or keeping the same flooded therewith so that the atmospherethereinwill be made too poor inoxygen to support combustion produceor topromote free oxidatlonand consequent heating. It has been provenexperimentally that flame is extinguished in an atmosphere whoseoxygencontent has been substantially reduced by the addition of inert gas orgases;

;break of fire has occurred, flooding of the .hold or other chamber withfurnace gases in v revent conflagration by sti 'ng the the mannerdescribed will at once extension of the flame. 1

, It is obviously necessary particularly in the case of a ship that dueprecaution be observed that living spaces in actual use while the rocessis in'operation should be amply ventilated to insure removal ofinert'gas which may leak into such spaces.

In the case of steamships at sea the fuel used would be coal, and coalmay be used in land installations in harbor fire boats and elsewheregenerally with com lete effectiveness. In the case of special p ant forutilizcoIre as fuel owing to the relative cleanness of the gasesproduced and the conse uent saving of injury to vessels, rooms an thecontents thereof.

A is a' steam boiler with furnace, and B funnel or smokestack withdamper valve (3.

D is gas ofi'take with-damper valve E, leading to the suction ofcentnfugal'bloWer F, to which suction also an air intake pipeG isbranched. 5

H is a damper valve in the air pi e G.

J is the gas .cleaner. and cooler w ich is interposed between the pumpor blower F and the funnelB.

The main gas duct K leads from the blower delivery to the holds orchambers, being broken into as many branches, as .L L L etc. eachprovided with a damper valve M, as the local circumstances of eachparticular case may call'for. -The spindles of these erated. It is ofcourse nece suitable vents to permitthe funnel damper to spontaneouscombustion, se-

where therefore an out through the the invention I prefer howevei' touse valves should be carried outside the hold or building in order thatthe valves may be operated externally thereto.

.The cooler and cleaner J is shown as a vertical chamber with middle setum N, water s raying head 0, water fee plpe P, and

rain R.

Inoperation,

C and the air damper H are wholly or artially closed and the dampers E oene the water service P turned on, the b ower F started, and the d'rainRopened. Such of the dam ers M as control the gas service ducts L J, &c.are also opened to direct the gas where required. current of furnace gaswill now pass from the "funnel B through the the blower F and the ucts LL &c. to the holds or chambers beingoperated on, flooding.the same anddisplacing the atmos here partially or wholly therefrom and ren er ingipe D, the cooler J the furnacebeing in action,

ordinary combustion and respiration 1mpossible. When it is required toclear the chamber so operated upon to allow men to enter the same, thedamper valves 0 and H are opened and the valve E closed, where- IFIPOHatmospheric air is drawn by the blower through ducts L L &c. into thechambers to which ing the'inert gases therefrom and restorlng a normalatmospheric condition within them.'

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters atent, is

Apparatus for extinguishing fire and destroymg vermin, comprising incombination with a furnace producing inert gases, a flue, a dampertherein, a valved duct from said flue below said damper leading to ascrubber, a duct from said scrubber to a centrifugal blower, a gas trunkfrom said blower, and valved branches therefrom, for conductin the inertgasesto the desired places, a valve atmosphere inlet pipe connected withsaid duct between the said scrubber and the said centrifugal blower, thescrubber consisting of a vertical closed cylinder provided with acentral partitlon extending nearly to the bottom thereof and with awater head having a perforated spraying plate therein and a water-pipeleading thereto, waste-trap arranged at the bottom of said cylinder.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE HARKER. Witnesses:

N. RILEY, W. J. DAVIS.

the air intake G and forced same lead, gradually displacand a valved.

